From knowledge “managers” to knowledge “cultivators”: an ecosystem perspective

“From knowledge ‘managers’ to knowledge ‘cultivators’: The role of system catalysts will be as ‘cultivators’ or gardeners who adopt an ecosystem-like approach to establishing trust-based connections (through relation-building, normative values, incentives, etc.) between existing stakeholder groups. This will be the greatest value of the system because it will ensure human-to-human connectivity before crises emerge and reinforce human relationships that will be able to collaborate more rapidly and effectively once real emergencies are underway, thereby producing actionable intelligence both pre-event and in the midst of crises.”

Source: Enabling Strategic Intelligence on Energy and Environmental Security Impacts and Consequences
Executive Summary of the International Design Team Meeting, Glasgow, Scotland 8-9 November 2007

(The paper embodies the views of the Glasgow Group, a team that met informally at the facilities of the Scottish Enterprise Network in a gathering co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence’s Energy and Environmental Security Directorate. Participants in the meeting included experts from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology’s Center for Security Studies, the New School University in New York, Emory University in Atlanta, Idaho National Laboratory, and additional business and academic experts from both Europe and the United States.)